AMARANTUS.] AMARANTACE&. 9 



3 ; ovule solitary, subsessile, erect. Fruit an orbicular or ovoid 

 compressed utricle, or a circumscissile membranous or coriaceous 

 capsule, entire or 2-3-toothed at the apex. Seed erect, orbicular, 

 compressed, testa crustaceous ; embryo annular, enclosing the 

 floury albumen, cotyledons linear, radicle inferior. The number 

 of species cannot be definitely determined, as a large proportion 

 of those described as such are known only in cultivation. Many 

 of them are widely distributed in tropical and subtrop. regions 

 of the world either cultivated or as weeds. 



Bracteoles awned or setaceous, equalling or exceeding the sepals ; 

 fruit dehiscent, circumscissile : 



Stamens 5 ; Sepals 5 : 



Leaf-axils with 5 spines ; stems terete ; 

 leavee ovate or oblong, obtuse ; bracts 

 setaceous ; flowers in dense or lax spikes . I. A. spinosus. 



Leaf-axils not spinous ; stems striate ; 

 jeaves elliptic or ovate-lanceolate ; bracts 

 acicular ; spikes thyrsoid : 



Leaves acute or acuminate ; bracts re- 

 curved, much exceeding the oblong-lan- 

 ceolate accuminate sepals . . . 2. A. paniculatus. 

 Leaves obtuse, rarely acute ; bracts hardly 

 recurved, not greatly exceeding the ob- 

 ovate mucronatc sepals . . . 3. A. catidalns. 

 Stamens 3 ; sepals 3 ; leaves obtuse or emar- 

 ginate : 



Stems branching above the middle, yielding 



under cultivation only one crop annually . 4. A. gangeticus. 

 Stems branching near the base, yielding 



several crops annually . . . . A. gangeticus var. 



tristis. 



IBractecles acute, hardly awned, shorter than the 

 sepals ; fruit usually indehiscent ; leaves obtuse, 

 rounded or notched : 



Stamens 3 ; sepals 3 : 



Fruit with an acute apex, indehiscent, 

 rugose ; clusters axillary and in terminal 

 panicled slender spikes . . . 5. A. viridis. 



